Women, Marcelle Bugre

Thank you for inviting me to speak today.

The promise of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is that no one should be left behind. This is a great promise, as we can all move forward together, but how can we ensure this for women, children, and people in desperate situations, who are subject to many types of vulnerabilities, including violence and oppression?

The call to ensure the inclusion and well-being of others, especially those who are at risk of becoming vulnerable in some way, is the belief and inspiration of many religions, faiths, and cultures around the world. 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' We are expected to be blessed by helping others, because we too may need help one day, and because our resources are by the pure providence of God or a spiritual force, and the goal is to enjoy but also to bless others. These concepts have been taught to people since childhood, in mosques, synagogues, and churches, as well as the sacred gatherings of many faiths, for centuries, where responsibility belongs to everyone. It is not only the state or religious authorities, but everyone is part of this responsibility and, therefore, everyone, even those who have no power, has a certain power not only to affect their own lives but the lives of others.

At the same time, the historical events of nations and leaders committing genocides and atrocities that shocked the world during the Second World War highlight the need for respect for the dignity and human rights of all peoples, with a universal declaration, a commitment from nations, and a monitoring mechanism that should prevent such atrocities from recurring. This is a very important milestone in human history, as it establishes the responsibility of states to adhere to international agreements and treaties, as well as to the international bodies that monitor this progress.

In this historical context, Malta became an independent nation, joined the European Union, developed its infrastructure, and over the years, like other countries, faith, religion, and spirituality took on a more individualistic meaning as community ties weakened. The role of traditions became less significant, and the concept of God and the community providing care was increasingly replaced by the state as the patriarchal provider. Maltese women saw their expectations shift from marrying, having children, and caring for their families to working and participating more fully in economic life, even though it was no longer financially feasible to raise a family on a single salary.

Of course, women are still expected to be the primary caregivers in the family. Women have thus become machines, working outside and inside the home, constantly reconsidering their priorities and reconfiguring their life goals, to catch up with their dreams and the impossible tasks imposed on them by these development goals, their family, and society. They become almost superheroes, but social attitudes toward them do not change, and they continue to experience prejudice and discrimination at home and in the workplace, even though the threat to their lives does not stop. In Malta, since 2022, when femicide became a crime, there have been three femicides. In Italy, there were 113 femicides in 2024, 99 of which were committed by parents, partners, and ex-partners. Why does this violence still exist with all this development? One reason is that in many situations, women are never truly part of the group or those making decisions, even about their own lives. When they are, they are still forced to uphold patriarchal values and make patriarchal decisions, and punished for not making them. Women are sometimes used against each other to ensure that real progress for women never happens. Even when women free themselves from one type of violence, they explain that they are escaping another form of violence.

Perhaps a way to ensure that no one is left behind, no matter who you are, in any capacity. Belonging, personal identity, and group identity are basic human needs, and we know that the physical and psychosocial development of children is so dependent on the education of their primary caregivers in the early years, but also on the safety of the environment around them, which is not uniform or standard for all children. Some children face very difficult situations because they are born into families that have financial, social, and psychological difficulties. From pregnancy, they are exposed to dangerous situations that have a huge impact on their lives. We are not equal at birth, or even before birth, when we consider the suffering that some pregnant women and mothers go through as they struggle for basic food and safety, flee war and violence, protect their children, make dangerous journeys around the world to escape violence; The external violence of the enemy, the internal violence of the family and the community, until they arrive on our shores and in our airports. For many women and girls, wherever they come from, home is not a safe place. And often, religious spaces remain indifferent and silent on issues of violence and injustice against women and girls. While we can provide care to victims, the silence contributes to the ongoing violence. And it's the same in the family: the violence continues even when family members provide care, but because they don't speak to the violence itself, it never stops.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide in 2023. Sixty percent of these homicides—51,000—were committed by intimate partners or other family members. One hundred and forty women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or close relative, meaning a woman is killed every 10 minutes. UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous emphasized: “Violence against women and girls is not inevitable; it is preventable. We need strong laws, better data collection, greater government accountability, a culture of zero tolerance, and increased funding for women’s rights organizations and institutional bodies.”

Access to protection and justice is essential if we are serious about combating violence against women. Many women find themselves at the mercy of their family members and intimate partners, waiting for years for the justice system to release them. During this time, they remain stuck, unable to move on, and this is also part of the violence. Many of these women are raising children in the meantime, facing financial pressures, and living in fear and stress. Health, education, housing, employment, and psychosocial services are essential to help families, adults, and children cope with their trauma, to help people understand how to cope, and to regain some control over their current situation. We need to improve the way we deliver these services, the commitment and resources, and the coordination between the justice, protection, and support systems. We must ensure that no one is left behind, that children's rights are heard and respected, no matter where they come from or whether they have family members or someone to advocate for them. Human rights are universal, inalienable, and indivisible, and it is our responsibility to guarantee them for all.

I felt that these reflections were very important, to bring to the table the very fact that, in keeping with the event and the topic, 'Barra u Gewwa', who is inside the group and who is outside the group – the fact that even though we are women doing our best to try to understand other women who have come from other parts of the world, where they have experienced even more discrimination, abuse and trauma, the gap is so great that we also often find ourselves unable to understand, and therefore unable to support, the other. We feel like we can't cross over and support that person because they seem to come from a different world, and the skills we need to visit that world are simply not obtained through knowledge and theory, and not simply because we're on their side, but we have to have an open heart and an open mind, and we have to dive in, act quickly, do more in-depth work to ensure access to services for people who have experienced the most complex situations, including children who have experienced multiple traumas, war, violence, family separation, abuse, and exploitation. The best way to ensure access to services is to ensure representation within our services, meaning that we encourage and support people who come from vulnerable backgrounds or very close to those backgrounds, who not only work in our services, but have a voice in decision-making. This is the best way to ensure that our programs are fair, accessible, and equitable. So how do we identify and support these people, to empower them in this work and ensure that no one is left behind?

I have had the privilege of working in different contexts, one of which was in pastoral ministry within migrant-led churches. As a Maltese woman, this was a great privilege for me, as I had to immerse myself in cultures and expressions, boundaries, beliefs, and values different from my own. Being open-minded and open-hearted helped me adapt and learn, but the greatest privilege was slowly finding my way into groups of women whose stories could not reach service providers because there was a lack of trust. Many women leave their countries when they experience violence, usually from family members and intimate partners, where they find themselves isolated and stuck in that situation. They become outsiders, rejected, left in the dark. I met several migrant women working in the cleaning and care industries who had left their countries not because they needed a job, but because they had a good job there, they could do it... but because they were victims of domestic violence and they lacked the protection of the state, the community, and the family in their countries. They knew that if they took a job abroad, it would be acceptable to the family since they would be able to send money home and improve the family's well-being. So they left their families for this socially acceptable reason, but in reality, they hoped that their husbands would find another woman while they were away, which seemed to be a common strategy among this group of women, because after their husbands found someone else, they could return home and live safely with their children. I met many women with this story. They had to leave everything they loved behind and go to a foreign land, hoping to return to a better future. What a fate, but how courageous and resourceful they were in solving their problem.

The spiritual space is not easy for women. It is also a space where they must often navigate between liberation and violence. Allow me to define violence. Prejudicial attitudes against women, direct psychological and physical harm, and exclusion from leadership or information are part of the violence I have encountered in religious spaces and the homes of people of all faiths and religions. Many religious leaders are unable to confront this violence because they are afraid that doing so will break up the family, disappoint men, and ultimately create sometimes very powerful enemies. But the concept of justice, love, and peace is very spiritual. In the Bible, God answers the prayers of those who have been trusted unjustly—in the story of Abigail, the victim of violence, of childless Hannah, of the adulteress—God changes the story from despair and doom to victory and hope. But also, God sends leaders and commands to protect the vulnerable, and that is why spiritual and religious authorities must address these issues of justice. I will conclude my talk with a personal story.

It was Mother's Day, about 10 years ago, when I decided to share a message at church about the treatment of women. There were many beautiful messages and beautiful flowers, and I had felt for a long time that certain things needed to be said. And I called all the women to their feet and told the church that every woman here has experienced some type of violence, simply because they are women. I talked about the different types and forms of violence, and how you can't honor women if you are a party to the violence, and if you don't oppose that violence, it doesn't matter. And after that message, the women came to me to tell their stories—how they had been harassed by their loved ones, their husbands, their parents, their partners, and their children. And how others took power over them and used their vulnerability to control and isolate them, how they had to keep their suffering secret in order to fit into a community in a family that was ready to eliminate them at the drop of a hat. Some brothers in the church found it a harsh message, others said I was speaking as a "white Maltese woman", but others thanked me for saying the right thing, and mentioned how they and their mothers had experienced this violence at home. My father left us while I was still in my mother's womb, his first call to me was when I arrived in Europe, can you believe that?

Thank you again for inviting me to speak at this gathering, for giving space to both professionalism and spirituality, and I encourage everyone here to continue the work so that no one is left behind.